


All Politeness

by silksieve



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:24:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silksieve/pseuds/silksieve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>William Darcy walks into a bar.</p><p>Measured chaos, gilded cattiness, and outright rejection follow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Politeness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kyrieanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrieanne/gifts).



William Darcy walked into a bar. Although Carter’s would more accurately be called a dive, with none of the elegant brass fixtures, smooth wood, and talented but unobtrusive bartenders that accented his preferred drinking establishment in San Francisco. Instead, someone was begging someone else to “call me maybe” from a jukebox, and his shoes stuck to the floor with every step he took. Over it all, the din of electronic songs, sirens, and bells from various arcade games beeped and whistled insistently and incessantly.

He tried not to wince. He honestly could not see the attraction that made every person under thirty (and those who wished they were) flock to the place. And why the Bennet sisters insisted on frequenting such an entirely unremarkable, prosaic, and, to be honest, unhygienic watering hole.

Still, Bing had called (and texted and even tweeted), and Darcy was not about to let his friend drink alone, especially after what was sure to have been a disastrous dinner with the Bennet family.

Caroline Lee gave him one of her signature half-smiles, half-smirks, and clutched his elbow a little harder as they made their way across the room, dodging drunk revelers with beer mugs in both fists. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“Thanks,” Darcy said drily. “One drink, remember.”

“Darcy! Caroline!” Bing waved them over from a table in a corner. Darcy was startled to see all three Bennet sisters and Charlotte Lu with him. Lydia Bennet was more engaged with a boy from the next table over than anyone else, although it was hard to tell; her face was almost fully hidden behind his.

Darcy greeted everyone, and offered to buy a round of drinks, as the last person to arrive. “Caroline, help me?” He didn’t want to question Bing in front of everyone, but he was intensely curious why Bing hadn’t been able to excuse himself from the Bennets after dinner. Though he supposed he could be grateful that Lizzie had accompanied her sisters. He hadn’t gotten a chance to speak with her again, but perhaps over a cocktail…

“Ugh, I had no idea he was bringing the entire Bennet family,” Caroline murmured in his ear. “I suppose I can be grateful that he didn’t ask Mrs. Bennet along, too. Small mercies.”

Darcy caught the eye of one particularly efficient-looking bartender and placed their order. “I was about to ask you what happened. I thought Bing was calling us for a rescue, not an entourage.”

Caroline made a face. “I don’t understand my brother. Or you, for that matter. Why are you still here in this little backwater town? What possible attractions could be so strong to keep you here?”

Darcy noticed that Lizzie had gotten up from the table after checking in with all the members of her party (although he couldn’t see Charlotte), and was making her way across the bar.

“I still have business to do,” Darcy said. “We’re running some tests on Domino to make sure we have proper geographic coverage. Small-town America deserves as much service as any urban area, and Meryton is not without its charm. And I’m here for Bing as well, of course. I thought we both were.”

“Yes, although if he stays much longer, I’m leaving without him,” Caroline said. “It’s just so boring here. There’s no culture to speak of and hardly anyone interesting to make it worth the while. Present company excluded, of course.” She smiled at him and moved a finger along his tie, pulling it a little.

He flinched. It was crooked now, and although he knew it would be rude, he couldn’t help himself. He re-adjusted it. Caroline’s raised eyebrow told him that she noticed, but chose to let it go. She turned her attention back to the Bennet table. “Honestly, I don’t see what Bing sees in her. She has zero polish, and worse, doesn’t know enough to see when someone like Bing is interested. Although I should count my blessings while I’m ahead.”

Darcy looked over to the table where Jane Bennet was giggling at something Bing said, while Bing looked terribly earnest as he brushed a hair from Jane’s cheek. He couldn’t see Lizzie anywhere.

“I might have to disagree on your assessment of Meryton. But I can understand Bing’s attraction; there’s great pleasure in a pair of fine eyes, after all.”

Caroline scoffed. “Well, I hope you don’t mean who I think you mean. Don’t look now, but your pair of fine eyes is headed straight for us.”

Darcy looked up, and saw Lizzie walking towards them. Suddenly nonplussed by both Caroline’s comments and Lizzie’s approach, he fumbled for the Domino prototype in his pocket and blindly started flipping through his inbox.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually working right now,” Caroline said over his shoulder.

“It’s important that I remain accessible to my team at all times,” he said, but he could feel his ears heating at his hedging.

“Whatever makes you happy,” Caroline said. Had she always been so abrasive? Or was it him?

When he looked up again, Lizzie was on the other side of the room, plugging quarters into one of the dancing games.

The bartender completed their order, and he gathered glasses to take to the table.

“Oh, Charlotte!” he heard Caroline exclaim. “I didn’t see you there. Your dress is absolutely adorable!”

He turned, and Charlotte lifted a few of the glasses from him. “I thought you might need a hand.”

“You’re such a dear,” Caroline said.

“That’s me. I’m a helper,” Charlotte replied.

Darcy hesitated, then said, “I’ll take Lizzie’s drink over to her, if you two are able to handle these.”

Charlotte smiled. “We’ve got this; you go deliver that drink.”

Holding Lizzie’s Pimm’s cup and his own whiskey soda, he made his way over to the arcade area, pausing to watch Lizzie dance. She was more graceful than he might have expected, especially while dancing in a four by four square to what sounded like terrible j-pop.

She seemed to be winning, though.

The round ended, and he mustered his courage. “This appears to be a two-player game.”

Lizzie whirled around to stare at him. “ _You_ play Just Dance?” she asked.

“I haven’t before, but I’d be willing to try. You just step on the arrows when they come up, right? Seems simple enough.”

Was it his imagination, or did her eyes get even bigger? They were very blue. It was distracting. A sharp intake of breath brought him out of his reverie.

“You can try,” she said. “But I think I’ve had enough. Good luck. Thanks for the drink.”

She took her Pimm’s out of his hand and headed back to the group.

He was left standing, nursing his whiskey soda and wondering what had just happened. He tossed back his drink; like everything that evening, it tasted sour.

**Author's Note:**

> I loved writing this story, and hope you enjoyed it, too! Happy Yuletide!


End file.
